Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:54:55 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199703171454.JAA13672@freenet2.carleton.ca>
From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia)
To: nfd@aimnet.com
Subject: The News From Dayton -- 03/17/97
Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca
Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com
Precedence: list
THE NEWS FROM DAYTON
For the week of St. Patrick's Day, 1997
Now Updated Almost Daily!
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Uncensored: Unwatchable or Not? / WWF and ECW Results!
Read on for more on today's Headline Stories!
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The News From Dayton is compiled weekly by:
Rick Scaia
(ag725@freenet.carleton.ca)
However, I do not work in a vacuum... by virtue of being much more
dedicated to to regular, insider updates on breaking news than I am, the
following informative online personalities and forums provide key
corroboration and details on the stories I report here; the NFD counts on
them to make sure only the most reliable information is passed on to you,
the eager fan:
Alex Marvez and his Weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column
The Wrestling Lariat
The Newzfirst Folder (on America On-Line) and the brand new WrestleSite Web
Page
The Bagpipe Report and MiCasa's Daily News
WWF On-Line (on America On-Line)
and of course...
My Many Top Secret Sources Whose Names I Cannot Divulge
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The News -- For the Week of March 3, 1997
The News From Dayton, as always, remains a combination of the weekly Dayton
Daily News pro wrestling column, penned by Alex Marvez, and other pieces of
information I feel are unique and worth passing on to you, the Home Viewer.
If you are reading the NFD on one of the RSPW newsgroups, or anywhere on
the web other than the revamped News From Dayton Web Site, I strongly
encourage you to make the jump to the NFD on the web at
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html
I think you'll find the trip worthwhile, as there are many exclusive
features to the NFD Web Site, along with updates on breaking news, so that
you don't have to wait a full week for the NFD's take on the latest rumors.
But for now, let's kick things off with Alex Marvez's column:
* Not much from Alex this week... the top story is Alex's strong
suspicion that the WCW Uncensored main event match will be extremely
lacking (to put it politely). The gist of Alex's thinking is that WCW
insinuated that Ric Flair would be returning on the PPV (I had also
thought that was the impression Flair gave... at least I was smart
enough to know better!), which would lead to inevitable disappointment
when the Horseman trio of Benoit, Mongo, and Jarrett wrestled on
Piper's team. The misleading of the fans, combined with "convoluted"
rules and stipulations for the main event match is a recipe for
disaster... but Alex does give credit, insofar as he says that WCW
Damage Control was wise to pull Piper's friends from the main event in
favor of the three healthy Horsemen. I'll have more on the actual
nature of the PPV below in my section.
* A lot of speculation has been going around this week in regards to
tonight's WWF Steel Cage Title Match between Sid and Bret Hart. And
while the WWF has been keeping things closely guarded lately, and
throwing a ton of exciting swerves, Alex says that we "shouldn't be
surprised" if Bret Hart both wins the title and goes full bore heel
effective tonight. Alex says this could lead to a summer program
against Ken Shamrock, with Hart defending his WWF Title. If nothing
else, I'd suggest keeping an eye on RAW tonight as this situation
develops!
* Finally, Alex reminds Dayton area fans that WCW is coming to town in
mid-April (I think it's the 18th...) with a Hara Arena show. Ticket
and card info was posted in the NFD previously... also, tickets for
the June 2 Nitro show at Hara Arena will likely go on sale at
intermission of the April show.
* Alex Marvez's weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column provides the
timely and accurate information that generally makes up a portion of
the NFD. Have you got a wrestling question you'd like answered as part
of Alex's weekly column? If so, Alex can be contacted via e-mail at
this *NEW* address: "alex_marvez@coxohio.com". And now, if you're in
the Miami Valley, you can listen to Alex's commentary on wrestling
(and other sports) on WING-FM (102.9) Mondays and Fridays at 7:20 a.m.
Due to time and computer limitations, Alex is no longer part of the
AOL Grandstand Wrestling Area.
Here are some other newsbites I've put together for you:
* First things first... I apologize for not doing more than 3 updates
last week. Like I said, I got bit by a case of the March Madness. :)
Also, this week is suppossedly "spring break" for me, but I'm still in
at work every day... I'm a miserable bastard. A lot of my energy this
week is gonna be spent on finishing up the NFD's move to an all new
page (have you checked out the NFD v2.0 web site? You should, it's
pretty cool, even if it is only a test version for now...). So there
might be fewer updates this week, and more time spent moving and
writing up the fancy new code and all that. Again, I apologize, but at
least this time, I do it in advance. :)
* Now onto some real news: I got to see WCW Uncensored (and as always, I
feel compelled to remind everyone that I *don't* pay for WCW shows, I
just watch 'em as a guest). Guess what? For the first time, Uncensored
did not suck. A lot of things about the show did suck (I'll get into
some of them below), but on the whole, I enjoyed the experience enough
to not break out the Hot Poker.
o Dusty Rhodes has gone beyond sucking on commentary. He now makes
me angry. I don't claim to be good at a whole lot of things, but
I just *know* I could do a better job speaking in front of an
international TV audience than Dusty does. I *know* it. His
presence alone made this PPV a chore to sit through.
o Opening match had Dean Malenko defeating Eddie Guerrero for the
WCW US Title. This was a refreshing deviation from their usual
style, as both worked a slightly heelish brawl; it wasn't
necessarily their strongest style, but given the "uncensored"
gimmick, it was nice to see them both try a couple different
things. This felt a little bit longish, as it wasn't the usual
non-stop action, and the crowd was only really into some of
Dean's moves (and none of Eddie's). Finish came when Syxx came to
ringside to steal the US Belt, but Eddie intercepted him; Syxx's
video camera was tossed into the ring, Dean picked it up, and
pasted Eddie with it from behind to score the pinfall and win the
US Title. OK match, but we all know these two have done better;
the fact that this was a different style compensated for it,
though.
o Second match was a cruiserweight match, between contenders Ultimo
Dragon and Psicosis. This was essentially a squash for Dragon
(who, at one time, was my favorite high-flyer from Japan), and
didn't really develop into anything special. The crowd was out of
it, and these two guys didn't decide to put their bodies on the
line for the unappreciative crowd (though Dragon did land one
kick-ass Asai Moonsault). Dragon won in the end, with a spinning
DDT and a Tiger Suplex. The commentary at the end of this one was
one particular moment I remember where Dusty just pissed the hell
out of me.
o Somewhere in here, there is an interview segment with Dallas
Page... it basically served to put the Diamond Doll Kimberly back
where she belongs: ON MY TV SCREEN. Har. She actually came out,
on DDP's side again. I wasn't paying too much attention, but
Savage and Liz came out and the end result was DDP getting laid
out, and Doll getting verbally abused (in regards to her Playboy
thing, I guess) and painted on by Liz. Call me names if you must,
but if this is a set-up for future mixed tag matches, I'm all for
it! Kim and Liz in tight, skimpy clothes is a dandy idea in my
book.
o I couldn't help but take the next match as a joke... it was
Glacier against his "long time enemy" Mortis. It looked like a
character out of the Mortal Kombat video game taking on a
character out of He-Man, Masters of the Universe. Luckily, the
two athletes behind the ridiculous get-ups are a bit less of a
joke. Well, a little bit less. They both tried, and for that,
I'll give them credit. But this was basically pretty stupid. In
spots, it looked like something out of Sugar Ray Leonard's "Fight
Zone" PPV, which if you've seen it should paint a very vivid and
uncomplimentary image. Glacier won, but as he was trying to
celebrate, he was hit from behind by Mortis, and then attacked by
the former Adam Bomb (looking like another He-Man knock-off in
his new costume), who was not given a new name. I could tell you
this was fun and exiciting, but I'd be lying.
o Next up, Buff Bagwell beat Scotty Riggs in a strap match... Riggs
essentially did an ignominious job, as Bagwell dominated him at
the end and got a clean win by touching all four corners while
Riggs lay unconscious. This match was boring as hell, with a
bunch of nice stiff strap shots being the only interesting
elements. Riggs has no engaging charisma at all...
o Kevin Sullivan obviously borrowed liberally from his sole
supplier of ideas, ECW, as the "Texas Tornado" tag match between
Harlem Heat and the Public Enemy included the Heat introducing a
garbage can full of gimmicks into the match, just like the
Gangstas of ECW do to start off every match they appear in.
Unlike in ECW, though, this garbage can was full of weak objects
like tin foil cookie sheets. The crowd started off being way into
this wild (by WCW standards) brawl, then were way out of it by
the time they realized it wasn't gonna get any worse than
repeated shots with the same lame-ass cookie sheets. At one
point, Johnny Grunge was busted open, but the camera barely
picked it up. The announcers never said word one about it. I
actually got the impression they were going out of their way to
NOT show Grunge, till he had a chance to towel off. For as one
dimensional as this was (and this is not to run down the brawling
style, but merely to say this particular of the brawling style
was not done all that well), it went too long... but it was still
fun seeing TPE back to at least 20% of their old ECW selves. They
hit a wicked table spot near the end, doing the double senton
through a member of the Heat, who was laid out on the table. But
the mind-numbingly pointless finish had the ref getting
distracted as Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichael (TPE's schedule
opponents at first) coming in and pasting a member of TPE,
allowing the Heat to score a pinfall. The brawling was fun for
the first part of the match, and the table spot ruled, but this
went too long for such a stupid finish. Oh, and Dusty again
pissed me off in this match, acting like a total jack-ass anytime
somebody got hit with anything other than a fist.
o In many ways, the next match is what I'll remember most from the
evening... not only was it the far and away best match of the
night, it was also the second or third best PPV match of the year
from either fed. And it also was the match on the show which had
the live crowd sitting on their hands and occassionally chanting
"BORING." Morons. Rey Misterio Jr. showed why he won so many
damned awards for 1996 in this match, and IMODO, Prince Iaukea
displayed that he deserves better than to be held up as a Rocky
Maivia knock-off. Iaukea kept up with Rey nicely, and even if
he's a green rookie without a polish or charisma, he showed he's
got as much potential as the WWF's Maivia. I don't even want to
get into trying to name all the cool stuff Rey did in this match,
but suffice to say it was his best work in a while. This match
went the full 15 minutes allotted, and then into "overtime" when
both men agreed that a draw just wouldn't do. In the extra time,
Iaukea rolled through Rey's springboard hurricarana and wound up
getting Jr. into a nice roll-up for the pinfall win to retain the
WCW TV Title. Iaukea may have no business as a champ at this
stage in his career, but he certainly impressed me in this match,
keeping up with Rey. And the worst part about the whole thing is
the retard fans (the same ones who popped HUGE for referee Randy
Anderson shoving Buff Bagwell earlier in the night and who would
go apeshit for Sting doing the Slop Drop four or five times later
on) who sat silently as these two were working their asses off.
You could actually hear the two fans in the buidling who had a
clue cheering the good moves over the inexplicable silence. Like
I said: morons.
o Main event was a big time let-down after that... but that's just
me, since I can honestly say I don't give a rat's ass about
anyone in the main event except for Benoit and the Giant. The
story goes that Rick Steiner was laid out earlier in the night,
so Team WCW only has three guys (a replacement was not named,
which was retarded). The rules were basically like the WWF's
Royal Rumble, except elimination could also happen by pinfall,
submission, or knock-out. So of course, practically every elim
was an over-the-top-rope toss. Giant, Benoit, and Hall start off
for the three respective teams. Giant is the first eliminated,
which immediately cut my interest in the match in half. Savage,
Scott Steiner, and Jarrett enter next. The third wave is Luger,
Nash, and Mongo. Last wave is just Piper and Hogan (no fourth
Team WCW member). Hogan came out with Dennis Rodman at his side.
Jarrett and Mongo were eventually eliminated, and then so was
Scott.... don't remember how, but it was over the top. The entire
NWO was still alive, along with Luger and Piper. Piper was
eliminated when Hogan Irish Whipped him into the ropes, and
Rodman pulled down the top rope, forcing Piper over the top.
Piper and Rodman acted like they wanted at each other while cops
tried to keep them apart. So just when it looked like certain
doom for Luger, he of course is embued with Hulk Hogan-like
powers, making a superman comeback, in which he racked both
Savage and Hall into submission and tossed Nash over the top. But
before he can take Hogan out, Nash distracts the ref long enough
for Rodman to come into the ring and take a lame potshot at
Luger. After that, Luger is immediately eliminated, which makes
the NWO your winners. Luger is getting spray-painted on, and the
NWO finally decides to break up the party and head back to the
dressing room, when Sting descends from the rafter to a
thunderous ovation. The NWO tries to confront him, but Savage,
Hall, Nash, and eventually even Hogan, all get the Slop Drop put
on them. The crowd is super hot for this. So I guess the
Sting-as-the-Crow bullshit may finally be winding down... the PPV
ends on this note. Not too bad; the show had its spots, even if
they weren't the same ones the live crowd actually cheered for.
Morons. ;)
* While WCW was running Uncensored, the WWF was on some cable systems
with a big house show from MSG... the highlights included a pretty hot
segment with the NOD courting Ahmed Johnson to join the Nation (he
didn't); also, Vader beat the Undertaker in a casket match when
Mankind interferred. The house show main event of Bret Hart taking on
Sid in a cage match did NOT air on TV.
* And while both the Big Two had shows large enough to mention here, so
did ECW. Hostile City Showdown '97 saw the crowning of new ECW Tag
Champs, as the Eliminators fell to the Dudley Boys, Buh Buh Ray and
D-Von. Not sure what this means for the PPV, but there is talk of some
combination of the Elims, Dudleys, and Gangstas being involved in a
tag title match that night; it is possible all three teams will be
involved. Also at Hostile City '97: Taz defeated Rob Van Dam in their
Grudge Match.... Terry Funk got revenge by beating Brian Lee.... and
Raven retained his ECW World Title in a three way dance against both
Stevie Richards and Tommy Dreamer.
* A lot of folks have already reported on this (hell, I already did,
too!), but what the hell? Jake Roberts has been dismissed from his WWF
duties for now... this was as a result of unprofessional behavior
(tardiness and more). But just ask Marty Jannetty how permanent
dismissals for acting unprofessionally are... one thing I think we can
bank on, though, is that no matter what you're reading elsewhere, you
won't be seeing Jake in WCW any time soon. Disco Inferno in the WWF,
on the other hand....
* The Wrestling Channel has reached an agreement to air hundreds of
hours of old Mid-South and UWF footage from the Bill Watts era. I
still remember the old UWF as the first non-WWF wrestling I watched
regularly. The crown jewel of this footage will be the early days of
Sting... in fact, TWC plans to put together a special program
featuring this early Sting footage. The program will be available on
the internet via the same technology that the Ring Warriors web site
is currently using to distribute its shows...
* NFD Reader Dan Fox reports that the WWF is visiting Muncie, IN, on
Sunday April 6, and that the show is going to be a RAW taping. I'm not
sure, but this could be due to the WWF's overseas schedule during late
March and into April... more on this as it develops.
* WWF pay-per-view dates for the foreseeable future:
o WrestleMania 13 --- Chicago, IL --- March 23, 1997
o In Your House --- Rochester, NY --- April 20, 1997
o In Your House --- Richmond, VA --- May 11, 1997
o King of the Ring --- Providence, RI --- June 8, 1997
o In Your House --- Calgary, Alberta, Canada --- July 6, 1997
o SummerSlam '97 --- E. Rutherford, NJ --- August 3, 1997
o In Your House --- Louisville, KY --- September 7, 1997
************
The News From Dayton
This compilation is Copyright 1995, 1997 by Rick Scaia
(ag725@freenet.carleton.ca)
All rights, if any, reserved.
Proper credit is given to sources of information whenever possible.
Reproduction of this document, or the contents thereof, is permitted, and
encouraged as long as: (1) in reproducing any part of this document, you
give proper credit to both the original source of information as well as to
"The News From Dayton," and (2) no profit is made from the reproduction or
distribution of this information (this info is not meant to be disseminated
via 1-900 lines or other media which cause the reader to incur a cost or
which generate any kind of revenue for the information provider!).
**************************************************************************
--
Rick Scaia | I'm on the Web now!
RSPW Posse Minister of OFFENSE | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/
ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | Prepare to be Disappointed!!!
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